Alternative name: Black-necked Cisticola
- Cisticola eximius
Identification
10 cm (4 in)
- Reddish-brown crown, face and neck
Distribution
Africa:
Western Africa: Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 3 subspecies[1]:
- C. e. occidens:
- Southern Senegal to Sierra Leone, southern Mali and Nigeria
- C. e. winneba:
- Coastal Ghana (Winneba)
- C. e. eximius:
- Northern Zaire to Ethiopia, extreme western Kenya and southern Central African Republic
Habitat
They use both dry and seasonally flooded grassland.
Behaviour
They run when disturbed.
Diet
Ground feeders. Their diet consists mainly of insects, including bugs and ants.
Breeding
The male has an aerial display song flight. They also sing from the stem of a tall grass.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved March 2017)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-backed Cisticola. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-backed_Cisticola
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
